How to get answered prayers

What do you do when you get an unanswered prayer?

The first time I got an answered prayer it was refreshing because I had gotten used to a life where I was never really sure if my prayer would be answered or not.

I was in the “try your luck” zone. I was simply faithful to go to church because I was born into the church. – Anonymous Tee

Many people are happy when they get answers to prayers. The majority of people on earth are never really sure that they will get any answers. They live in 'la la' land. 

This article is about answering some questions and helping you get on the journey to getting your prayers answered. 

How can I be assured of salvation?

How many times have you surrendered your heart to the Lord?

Many people give their life to Christ repeatedly because they are not sure if they are saved yet. The insecurity that comes from knowing can rob one of confidence in prayer.

This article is not meant to mock or belittle your efforts. Being assured of salvation is something that every believer ought to know. 

Being assured of God’s love and faithfulness is something to be treasured. When you know that you are unconditionally loved and that God’s faithfulness is available to you, you have confidence when you pray and you know that your prayers will be answered in accordance with God’s will.

How do I stop worrying about the future?

Worrying does not add one inch to your height.

Many people worry subconsciously. You worry about your family, your business, the future, and things as mundane as the weather. Worrying can become a habit.

Worrying is a bad habit because it wastes valuable time and Jesus died to make you free of worry.

Worry attracts the wrong things and so we ought to make it an exercise to get rid of worry from our lives. Getting rid of worry leaves room for faith to grow in our hearts.

Recognize what worry is

Worry is an expression of fear. Fear contaminates faith and prevents you from getting the things that you pray and expect to receive from God. Worry will make your faith ineffective.

What is faith and how does it work?

You need faith to live the victorious Christian life.

You need faith to get your prayers answered, to know who to marry, and to know what business or purpose is for you.

We need faith for everything in life. A life without faith is a life of less than God desires for us. The believer is called to live by faith.

Faith can overcome anything in the world system.

1 John 5:4

Ways To Please God

How to please God: A step-by-step process

The bible says that Enoch pleased God and He was not. Christians all over the world start out wanting to please God in every area of their life.

Hebrews 11:5 By faith [that pleased God] Enoch was caught up and taken to heaven so that he would not have a glimpse of death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD HAD TAKEN HIM; for even before he was taken [to heaven], he received the testimony [still on record] that he had walked with God and pleased Him.

What a life. It is a life to be envied. What beautiful intimacy with God, such sweet ‘koinonia’. Who would not want to have the ears of the King of kings and the Lord of lords?

Whom would not want to be able to dialogue with the Lord and have Him answer, and respond and give His approval.

Sadly, many people do not value their relationship with God. They do not remain in fellowship with God even though they love Him so much. The love does not translate to action. This act is easy to understand. It happens to the best of us.

Prayer Works

Pray more!

Your prayer works.

The reason why your prayers work is because of the name of Jesus, because of His righteousness in you and because the blood of Jesus still has power.

Never be afraid to reach out to your Father to ask for that which he has provided for you.

It is not the will of God for you to walk in condemnation, fear, doubt, and unbelief. God wants you to operate boldly as a son and a daughter. He wants you coming boldly to His throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.

Pray.

Liking people is easy.

I can say that I like Mike because he buys me Ice Cream every Thursday when we hang out. It could be that I liked Mike or I simply like the Ice Cream and hanging out makes me feel good.

What if Mike moved away to another state, would I still prioritize him? Would I make out time to spend with him one Thursday in a month?

Love takes effort.

I can say that Susie is fun to hang out with. We gist, we play, we catch up on things that have been happening in each other’s life and that is a time out for me. What if Susie had an accident?

God is love relentless

No kind of love compares to the kind of love God showers over us. The word relentless is defined as ‘showing or promising no abatement of severity, intensity, strength, or pace: UNRELENTING (merriam-webster.com). Other words to describe 'relentless' is: determined or unyielding. God's love for us is passionate in pursuit. Sometimes we can see the meek & gentle side of God as the only characteristic of His amazing love. While those things are good, there is a fierceness to God that we are missing in the thought of God's love today. His love for us is fierce, unsatisfied with only pieces of our hearts. God wants all of us and he will not relent until He has all of our hearts, our minds, our bodies, our lives. He longs for us to let His love into even the darkest of nights, the places we feel uncomfortable with. God’s love is relentless.

God’s Pursuit of man

We see even after the fall of man, with Adam and Eve, God’s love was merciful enough to save us from the consequences of sin. He had a plan to restore all of his children to Him and save us from sin that only leads to death. God loved us enough, to become man, to sympathize with every single weakness we encounter here on earth. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (NLT)” Not only did He come to experience the pain we do on earth; He gave His one and only son, Jesus, to die for us. Jesus became sin so we could be made righteous, so we could be free. I don't know about you but I have never seen or heard of love as great as this. It almost sounds too good to be true, but it’s that good.

Cory Asbury sings in his latest song “Relentless Love,” ‘There’s no shadow you won’t light up, mountain you won’t climb up, coming after me. No wall you won’t kick down, lie you won’t tear down, coming after me.’ This is the perfect visual of how God’s love is relentless over his children. No matter how far you have fallen, no matter how finished your situation looks, God’s love has a way out. We can even choose to run away from this kind of love, but he chases after us anyways. He never leaves us but waits for us to turn back to Him, to extend His grace and mercy. Psalm 23:6 in the Message Translation says, “Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life.”

How do we respond to this kind of love?

Even if you know that God’s love is relentless, how do you receive it? I think it starts with the act of surrender. No matter where you are in your walk with the Lord, there is always another level of surrender. Surrender is described to cease resistance and come into submission. In the learning of letting go and giving God more of us each day, we become even more full of His love. The more we empty ourselves of our ways and surrender to His, the more we can fully experience His love in our hearts.

We see the beautiful picture of God’s relentless love in the parable of the lost son. If you don’t know the story, it’s found in Luke 15:11-32. We see in this story of the rebellious son, the father runs after him with relentless love. In this time and day, a man running was not normal to do. But this father was not concerned with how he appeared to others, he ran after him and embraced him with unrelenting love and showered him with gifts. What a picture of the Father God running after us today. He won’t stop and will continue to pursue us until we meet him face to face one day. God is not reserving himself for us until we get to heaven, but He wants to pour His full self onto us. It’s a matter of us opening up our hands and our hearts to let him in. When we don't know-how, he will show us the way. He is patient with us, but also fierce in His pursuit when we learn to open up the gates of our hearts.

You are not condemned, you are justified in Christ

So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed one.
For the law of the Spirit of life flowing through the anointing of Jesus has liberated us from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:1. The Passion Translation

God loves you!

We sometimes find it difficult to believe that the Lord loves us because we sometimes do things, we are not proud of, or live our lives in a manner that does not please the Lord.

There may be some memories in our lives that bring fear and shame. Memories and thoughts of our past life lived outside Christ, can hinder us from receiving the love of God.

Many times, when we miss the mark and the Lord forgives us, if we don’t deal with guilt, we can enter into condemnation. It is a hindrance to receiving God’s love, sometimes it is condemnation from others and sometimes self-condemnation.

When we walk in condemnation, we think that we do not have a right to the love of God until we are perfect. Or that the Lord will not want to talk with us or have anything to do with us until we are perfect but this is not true.

We all love to be loved. We crave kindness and affection from spending time with people that we trust. We all want to feel safe, protected, defended and provided for. We feel peace from being in the presence of people who have good plans for us, want the best for us and dream of only good concerning us. Men want to be respected and women want to be loved. We all value people that we can trust that one man or woman who inspires confidence, they are precious. What a joy to have one that we can speak freely in their presence because discretion is a valued trait that they possess.

Many people go through life searching for true love. People do crazy things for professed love. In the movies and all around us every day, we see, hear, and experience the thing that people will do for love. Knowing that a treasured one love you will build confidence in you, and you will know that someone has your back at all times. It builds trust and gives you security.

Knowing that God loves you is similar. Knowing the love of God will keep you out of condemnation and keep you in your right position in Christ. That is the position of a loved son and daughter who can always run to God. Ever seen how a little 2 year old runs to her father or mother in total confidence. That happens because of relationship that has been built over time. A two year old believes that her father can move heaven and earth to get her anything she asks for. A 2 year old is not very powerful; she has to depend on another for all of her needs. She is powerful because she has the ears of a father who loves her.

The love of God is unconditional. It is the greatest thing you will ever discover in your lifetime. God’s love for you is relentless. He will never stop coming after you in redemption.

God is love. He has the nature of love. He has the capacity to love you perfectly. All He knows is love. All that He is, is love.

Prayer Changes Things

Prayer Changes Things

What are you needing today, a fresh touch from God? A miracle in your body and your finances? Or maybe an answer to where to go next in your journey. Whatever it is, God has you and is waiting to release all of His blessings over you. God designed this language of prayer to be a gateway from heaven to earth through his sons and daughters. God gave us prayer, a connection point between man and God, to receive everything that God has for us. When you have a relationship with Jesus, prayer changes everything. It's one of the very foundations that we build our lives on as Christians and it saves even the unbeliever from trouble. For some of us, it was our grandma's prayers that brought us to salvation in Jesus Christ! We challenge you today to ask God for the impossible, to shake heaven and earth with your prayers, and to never quit contending for a breakthrough. God is faithful and He will not fail you!

ASK God for your miracle!

One of the most highlighted commandments about prayer in the bible is to ASK and bring your requests before the Lord. God wants us to solely rely on Him for every little thing. Even though God is all-powerful and could at times give us everything without us asking, He wants us to come to Him in faith and relationship. Prayer changes things in your heart and gives us the ability to see what God sees. Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Another scripture says, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours (Mark 11:24).” God wanted us to be the ones to receive His heart for every person we pray for, for our situation, and co-labor with Him to see His will come to pass! God delights in interacting with us in prayer and making the impossible possible.

Prayers That Shake Heaven & Earth

The Lord’s prayer is one to pray regularly, as it carries power and authority from heaven. If your overwhelmed and don’t know where to start in prayer, start with the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6: 9-13, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Our prayer changes things when we come into agreement with what God says and wants to do in our lives and in the lives of those around us. Our prayers are meant to shake heaven and earth and demolish the strongholds of every evil scheme. Thanks to Jesus, we are given the victory over every obstacle and enemy! The next time you go to your prayer closet, remember the enemy is under your feet and you have the authority in Jesus’ name.

Don’t quit after the first time!

Sometimes we pray once and think that it’s enough. While sometimes we see the fruit instantaneously, other situations may require perseverance. When you truly believe that prayer changes things, you will not give up. If you haven’t seen your breakthrough yet, keep believing and contending and you will see the great harvest. Jesus even prayed twice for the blind man in Mark 8! After the first time, Jesus prayed the man explained to Jesus, "I see people; they look like trees walking around (Mark 8:24)." Then it says, "Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly (Mark 8:25)." If even Jesus prayed more than once, certainly we can too.

So, remember to never give up today, no matter how dark things may seem. Prayer changes things and it’s changing things even if you haven’t seen it in the natural yet. 2 Corinthians 1:20 shares, “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” Continue to contend and to fight the good fight of faith. Your miracle is right around the corner if you do not give up!

Revelation of God's love

A Revelation of God's Love

We hear in the Christian culture all the time about the verse that says ‘God is love,’ but do we really know the full depths of its meaning? I don’t think we can fully understand this phrase until we experience it with God for ourselves. The term ‘God is love’ is more than just a phrase but it holds truth and revelation shown by the word of God. It says in 1 John 4:7-9, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love (NIV).” We pray that as you read this article, you get a new revelation of how God is love and that you would experience God’s perfect love for yourself. Love was always God’s idea, not what the world paints it as. It holds value like no other and experience with our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Four Kinds of Love in Scriptures

Four Kinds of Love in Scriptures

This blog post will help you explore the four types of love in the Bible. You will realize that not all love that you feel is one and the same. You will learn that God deserves your love more than anything or anyone else. This is Valentine’s blog post to prepare your hearts in the love month.

We are inspired to talk about love not only because it is the month of hearts but our business and ministry encapsulates love. Love is more than lip service, it is shown. Let us now discuss the four kinds of love in Scriptures.

There are four Greek words signifying four different types of love.

1. Eros

Eros is the Greek mythology character, the God of love, physical attraction, sexual desire, passion, and romance. We are more familiar with Cupid, its Roman counterpart.

Erotic love is between two people who are in love and demonstrating physical love towards each other. This is the type of love that we almost always see in films, commercials, and other forms of media.

Three Truths Proving That He is Love

Three Truths Proving That He is Love

This blog post will walk you through the evidence why God is love. After reading this blog post, you will comprehend deeply this kind of love that saves, heals, provides, and protects. God is love and will always be love. Nothing can change that. His love is encompassing that transcends time, space, shapes, and forms. The knowledge of His love and its demonstration in our lives are what we need to live out His glorious destiny for us.

Many times in our lives we are so overwhelmed with the bombarding thoughts that maybe God doesn’t love you. If he loves you, why is that happening to you?

Firstly, before we go onto great lengths of discussing the essential truth that He loves you, let us have a firm foundation that He is love. We can then tie up these four truths proving that He is love to the fact that regardless of the situation and how you feel, nothing can change His love for you.

God is love. There are truths proving that he is love:

1. The Bible says so.

God is love as the Bible says it so. The Scriptures is replete with verses that God is love.

Loving God Above All

Loving God Above All This Year

2018 has just ended and we are welcoming the new year not with resolutions but with God’s words and prescriptions to start it right. There are so many things that we can do for God this new year but the number one in our list is Loving God Above All.

Why is this so?

The love of God is the only compelling force that created the world and mankind and maintains harmony amidst diversity throughout all creation. What we can do is to love God above all.

There are four reasons why we need to love God above all.

1. God commands it in Scriptures.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:”

Jesus Is The Reason

Jesus Is The Reason for Christmas

The most festive season of giving and sharing love has finally come this year. Many folks are excited as this holiday unites them with their families and loved ones. The spirit of Christmas is more than the grandiose Christmas decors, overflowing buffet, and warmest greeting cards. There must be a deeper reason behind it.

In the many years that we have been celebrating Christmas, there are moments that it feels like it’s just coming out as a routine. When the BER months set in, we start hearing Christmas carols and feeling the cool breeze of air. But, what does Christmas signify? Why do we celebrate it?

Since the beginning of time, when God’s original plan for man came to naught after the first couple sinned, God’s redemptive plan came into effect. It was prophesied and foretold that there will be a coming Savior and Redeemer who will rescue mankind from their sins and reconcile them back to God. After four thousand years, this promised Savior was born on Christmas day.

“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins”

Matthew 1:21 KJV